Dark Steps by Martin Pond

Bio:

Born in East Kent in 1970, Martin was educated at the University of East Anglia... but unlike many more famous writers didn't study Creative Writing there or do "The MA". A career in IT followed, and continues to pay the bills. In 2007 Martin made a hesitant return to fiction, not having written remotely seriously since his student days. He returned to UEA too, and took a diploma in Creative Writing.

Martin's stories have appeared in Unthology No 1, Streetcake magazineand Alliterati magazine, whilst three poems have appeared in The Artillery Of Words magazine.

He is currently working on a novel-length work, Drawn To The Deep End, and, as an experiment, is publishing the first draft, unedited, in weekly online instalments.

Martin's first collection of short fiction, Dark Steps, was published in August 2011.

Product description:A collection of short stories, a series of twist endings, and one author's dark steps back into writing...

A teenage boy waits to take a sinister test he may or may not pass; a new father hears a strange voice on his daughter's baby monitor; a poisoner's best-laid plans go terribly astray; an enigmatic man gets as close to death as he can; a young boy wonders why Christmas just doesn't feel right this year; after the year from hell, a man is driven to extreme measures; a dying man reveals a black secret to his son; and, after four years in limbo, a man's life starts to unravel...

These dark tales of the unexpected are for fans of the short fiction of Stephen King, David Morrell and Dean Koontz. Step outside of the every day and take dark steps into a shadowy place...

Reviews:

"...Waiting Room is an intriguing and mysterious Brave New World-type tale set in the near future which keeps the reader guessing right to the end..." (Eastern Daily Press, 4th December 2010)

"...there are many other points at which Unthology 1 rises to a level that has earned my profound respect...With 'Waiting Room', Martin Pond conjures up a near-futuristic world in which a boy is about to take a test, except no one will tell him what it is about, which has disastrous consequences for him." (Ian Chung, Sabotage Reviews, 3rd April 2011)

On Dream Feed: "A chilling tale of demonic abduction, worthy of le Fanu. It is succinctly structured with barely a word wasted and plays cleverly on the ambiguous significance of sounds...A horribly compelling fable!" (Dr John Yeoman, Writers' Village, 15th July 2011)

On Resolution: "A persuasive drama of a life fallen into ruin, well orchestrated by the story’s ‘count down’ structure." (Dr John Yeoman, Writers' Village, 15th July 2011)

Q: What will e-readers like about your book?
Short, punchy tales of the unexpected with twist endings! These are unsettling stories rather than horror per se, and deal in the darker aspects of everyday life. E-readers who enjoy the short fiction of Stephen King, David Morrell and Dean Koontz will find something of interest here.

Q: Why did you go indie?
Having had some success with getting short stories published in books and online literary magazines, I wanted to capitalise on that momentum. Going indie enabled me to do this quickly, whilst retaining full creative control over every aspect of the resulting book.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?
It's difficult to pigeonhole my stories into any one genre - they're not horror, they're not mystery. I've heard them called psychological horror and, plain and simple, tales of the unexpected. My favourite authors in these genres are Stephen King and, on the basis of the excellent collection "Black Evening", David Morrell.

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords

http://martinpond.blogspot.com/

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